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Avoiding infringement with niché ideas

B

bounce08

I had what I thought was a very niché and unique idea for a mockumentary, however having done research, it seems my basic concept has been done, only once, but very recently (within the last 4 years).

I am still very keen to develop this concept, it is something that can be produced to a high quality on a shoe string budget, but I am constantly wary of the film that has already been made.

I have watched this particular film, and it fairly closely matches the tone of my concept. It is not in the English language.

The logline for my idea and this film is almost identical. If I was to develop something that had the same tone (i.e. black comedy/satire) with the same logline, but different structure/plot points, would I be in the clear?

How do I avoid infringement and copyright?

I will not reveal the concept, but to give you a comparison, it would be as if I was making an English language version of 'Man Bites Dog' (a Belgian mockumentary about a documentary crew that follows a serial killer carrying out his handy work who become involved in his evil ways) with the same logline, but different plot points.

What's the limit?
 
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mlesemann said:
Why to start with a new logline?
A little creative thinking should get you that
Click to expand...

Because changing the logline would vastly change the concept.

I am well aware that there are "no original ideas left in Hollywood" and that there are only a finite number of plots and ideas, my dilemma is that my idea is exactly the same as another film, yet my components are in a different order. e.g White House Down and Olympus Has Fallen.

Another comparison would be, lets say, my idea was a mockumentary about the office workers of a mid-size telesales company. Obviously, this is the concept of 'The Office', but my idea has different characters and individual story lines, wih a similar tone. To be clear, this is NOT my idea.

Would I be in any legal bother?

My idea is quite niché and has only been done once before in a very little known foreign language mockumentary. My concern is that because it is so particular I would be seen as copying.
 
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Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies - Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter


Snakes on a Plane - Snakes on a Train


2012 - 2012: Doomsday


The Last Exorcism - The Final Exorcism



Transmorphers - Transformers




Terminator - The Terminators




and there's plenty more where that came from :cool:
 
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